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Saturday, August 12, 2017

The Leftover Knit Jacket turned Vest - Burda 7183.

Well, all good things come to an end, although with this knit fabric, I am rather pleased, because it was so tedious to sew and didn't want to behave at all. I had a strip of leftover knit that I was determined to use, firstly because I love it, and secondly, because it was so awful to sew that I knew that if I put it away to make up some other time, it would never get done. So it was onward knit.

I have a little stash of remnants, and in that I had a piece of black brushed tracksuit fleece, poly cotton mix. I decided to use that for sleeves and back, and have a patterned front. But of what? I rummaged through my patterns and chose Burda 7183:

This is a zip front jacket and I had a zip that was just the right length. The neckline was bound - and the pattern suggested faux leather.

I usually fit a Burda 38, perhaps smaller on the shoulder, but Burda 38 is usually okay. Now, I usually toile things, but I didn't bother - this was leftovers, and a remnant. So I cut out and removed an inch in length from the sleeves. This turned out to be a mistake, because the sleeves are extraordinarally short for a commercial pattern. And, not only that, they were far too narrow for me. I have never had this problem with any sleeve, as I am quite thin in the extremities. But when I tried them on, they were very fitted. Not only that but the sleeve is in one piece and does not have an elbow dart. So I found them tight and uncomfortable and with no dart, movement was restriced. As I planned to wear the jacket over layers, this was not going to work for me. I had read the reviews on pattern review and no one had mentioned this issue, so I guess width and fit is a personal comfort matter. I think if you wore this as a dress jacket without layers underneath, the sleeves may be fine.

So I had a change of direction and made a vest. I decide to omit the zip as it would look too heavy, and with vests I tend to wear them open and only fasten if need be.

So I decided to bind the armholes to match the neckline, and added hook and eye closures (3) to the centre front of the vest.

As for the faux leather binding, I used what I had. It did not have stretch, so it did not sit very nicely. It looks worse in the photos than it does in real life. When the garment is worn, it curves over my body and the faux smooths out a bit. Plus in real life wear, with movement and what not, little flaws like this are not noticeable.

And of course, as luck would have it, the next time I went to Spotlight they had some stretch faux pleather. So I have purchased some for the next time this situation arises.

Amazing, my top edges met and so did the bottom ones!

There isn't much more to say about this little vest, so I will just close with some pictures:

That's about all there is to say about this jacket, except I want to make the long sleeve version one day - suitably altered! I need to find a suitable fabric, but at least I have the faux pleather in my stash.

I'm so glad this knit project is over. So far, four garments from two pieces of 1.45 and 1.55 sweater knit, plus a remnant of .4 for the cowl. And a small remnant of fleecy for the vest. Not bad, 4 garments and cowl for about $80.00 of fabric plus notions and patterns.

I needed a simple project after that, so chose an innocuous little TNT t-shirt. Unfortunately, things were not that simple...isn't that just sewing.

About Me

Hello, I'm Sarah Liz, and I am attempting to make my own Sew Style wardrobe. It's taking more time than I thought, but one day I will have a Sew Style wardrobe that is just right. And I blog for pleasure and not for profit. Content of sarahlizsewstyle.blogspot.com is copyright, 2013-2017, All Rights Reserved.